Seven Psychopaths is a perfect movie.
To me, a perfect movie is one where the cast, dialogue and plot are so much better than I could imagine, there is nothing that could be changed to improve it. It couldn’t get any better.
The Blues Brothers is a perfect movie. The plot is understandable, but it’s impossible to predict what happens next. Every word of the dialogue is important, but no words are wasted. The cast has popular actors, plus Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin and James Brown.
An article I was reading mentioned Christopher Walken and included this clip.
Based on the cast and that clip it was worth a try. It seems to be available on Pluto TV and Paramount +.
The plot is simple. A low-level criminal kidnaps dogs, then when a reward is offered for a lost pet, the pup is returned. A dog belonging to a high-level criminal is taken, and the trouble starts. Simple, but all of the characters are intricately linked and most are psychopaths.
The cast is excellent. Christopher Walken, Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and Tom Waits are always interesting, and altogether, in Seven Psychopaths, it’s doesn’t disappoint.
Christopher Walken always seems to imply much more than he is saying. He doesn’t even have to talk. Just facial expressions and how he moves tells you that there is a lot going on that you don’t know about. When this music video came out, we learned that he can move very well, even as a 70 year-old.
Colin Farrell plays a drunk Irish writer, and he can brood and mope better than anyone. With those bushy eyebrows, it’s like his eyes disappear.
I’m not sure I ever knew the difference between Sam Rockwell and Dana Carvey. Rockwell is the classy version of a Dana Carvey.
When Woody replaced Coach on Cheers, none of us thought it would work out. Coach was a Yogi Berra kind of character. When Coach said something funny, it probably wasn’t intentional. Woody was also clueless, but in a naive way. Woody Harrelson was great on Cheers, but at the time, it wasn’t obvious that he was a great actor. Woody can do crazy, cunning, menacing psychopath very well.
I’ve been a fan of Tom Waits and his music for decades. He’s been making music and in movies for forty years, but it would be easy not to have heard of him unless you happened to notice his work. This is the song that caught my interest.
Seven Psychopaths came out 12 years ago and didn’t make money in theaters. I’m not sure why, except to say that the movie can’t really be explained. Just watch it. I watched Barbie and Oppenheimer last year, and neither movie is as memorable or as fun to watch. Not even close.